The Yellow Brick Road of Love(:


Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" & "What happens in Vegas"

Society believes that love should be a magical thing of untimely compassion and romance. Though society never reviles the journey to this magic. In the text "Taming of the Shrew", Pertruchio has an agreement with a couple of men in order for him to marry Katherine; A woman of beauty and wealth, even though Katherine doesn't like Pertruchio very much. In comparison to the movie "What happens in Vegas", Joy and Jack are forced to be legally wed due to court orders in return for a large sum of money, that they have won together in a vegas jackpot. These texts show two couples, who while married cannot stand each other, do not love each other, and are forced to make due with the other existence. The men are shown to be annoying and arrogant, while both females are hard headed, non-playful and do no wish to adapt or ever have any type of emotion for their spouse. These text both reflect the social beliefs that conflict in a relationship can make two opposite attract to each other over time.

"No shame but mine. I must, forsooth, be forced to give my hand, opposed against my heart, unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen, who wooed in haste and means to wed at leisure."

(Act 3; Scene 2; Page 117; Lines 8-11)

In this quote, Katherine is speaking about how she is entirely unhappy with her having to be married to such a man named Pertruchio and it's in totally opposition of her heart. Pertruchio is seeming to try and "woo" Katherine into having her agree to him even the slightest, but she deeply does not want to budge. This shows an arrise on conflict that the new couple is faced upon. Conflict that will only grow to be stronger and stronger, but will also give birth to love.

Joy is finding herself aggravated by even the slightest presence of Jack. Though, she is a pretty strong woman and is willing to fight for what she wants and in this case it's the money.

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In this scene from "What Happens In Vegas," Joy and Jack run into each other for the first time at a hotel room mix up in Vegas. Finding him to be an intruder she attacks him. Eventually as the night goes on, Joy and Jack are drunkenly married, win a jackpot of cash, and find out that they are two opposites who do NOT attract.
Both couples find it outrageously hard to live with the others very different lifestyles and are doing their best to survive. Jack and Joy try to adapt, while Katherine is learning to respect each of her husbands words. But with so much conflict in personalities, it is only bound that at some point they will find the flaws to be nothing more then the mere proof of being a human.

" My mind hath been as big as one of yours, my heart as great, my reason haply more, to bandy word for word and grow for frown; But now I see our lances are but straws, our strengths as weak, our weakness past compare, That seeming to be oct which we indeed least are."
(Act 5; Scene 2; Page 221; 186-191)

In the quote, Katherine spreads her love for her husband. How his words are hers and how they are combined together through differences and similarities. Katherine realized that the man she was forced to marry is only trying to do good for her. That all her fighting against him would not get anywhere but make her life hell. Instead she looked into the optimistic lens and saw he supports her with a house, food, and clothing. He is her backbone as she should be his. It took amounts of anger and conflict between the two, for in the end they could finally see they are so different, yet so alike, and they are perfect for each other.

After 6 months of being wedded, Jack and Joy come to the conclusion that they are so opposite it actually helps the other one succeed in life and with that they started to attract each other.


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The movie "What happens in Vegas," shows that two young people have learned to adapt with the other and allowed the passion of conflict to arrise this understand for each other true mentality. Jack brought out the fun in Joy and Joy brought out the man in Jack. In comparison to the text of "Taming of the Shrew", Pertruchio brought out the decent woman in Katherine and Katherine gave Pertruchio a woman to marry and a goal to accomplish. All of these took time to do and a lot of conflict to arrise such a fire of love.

Both couples are left with a deeper fulfillment of love and understanding. Jack and Joy stay happily married with the sum of money, while Katherine and Pertruchio start to find a bond within each other to possibly have babies. Love may be given at first sight or the thousandth sight, but it takes true conflict and disagreement for people to realize and love the others differences. It's the flaw within themselves that help each other see the perfect. Both couples in this text saw the imperfection in perfect. It ended up making love (: